I can't help but feel partly responsible in some way, given that I bought the camera, and I am the "photographer". My partner got her 5-6 rolls of film back from our trip we took in November. She'd been looking forward to the this for months... as had I. I am told 97% of them are out of focus. Completely out of focus. That means pretty much all of them AFAIK. Apparently even the odd snaps I took were out of focus... we'd had loads of film back from this camera and the focusing accuracy was excellent.

Something clearly went wrong and completely the wrong time, just before we sent off, during transit (it was hand luggage), during... I dunno. She was quite upset last night when she found the print package (I was not there, I haven't yet seen myself).

I can't understand what has happened, other than it must have taken some sort of impact to mess up the lens arrangement, or some sort of internal mechanism. It was in AF pretty much all the time, it doesn't slip onto MF easily at all. But understanding it now won't do much good.

She loves to use film, but I fear this may be too greater blow for her to continue. I mean, we used one of the best compacts ever made (Minilux 40/2.4), mostly pro grade film, one of the best labs in the UK. Wouldn't you give up hope?

What a shame, sorry to hear that something went wrong.
If she loves film I don't think she has to give it up, but maybe use both film and digital for the important trips, so if one camera goes bad, there is a somewhat redundant shot.

That would mean taking the same shot twice... I doubt that many people would want to work like that. I think that film is viable, but the camera must be checked before travelling, and digital should be used where the results are very important, if possible.

carstenw wrote:
the camera must be checked before travelling, and digital should be used where the results are very important.

The camera had been used (& results processed) very recently before the trip. She keeps it in a protective camera bag... I looked over it, seemed fine... I hate to put it down to "bad luck" or nonsense like that, but in this situation it seems almost unavoidable. She has a Sony A33 with kit lens... but that's quite a big commitment in terms of size, weight. The Minilux is tiny in comparison and in my opinion produces better photos from a good 35mm film and the 40/2.4. So you see why she brought that... and why this is her go to camera if shes out and about.

jj birder wrote:
Make sure you check the negs. Prints are done by scan these days and I have had OOF prints back that were fine when I scanned them myself to check.

I do have that in the back of my mind as one thing to look at, but I'm not optimistic at all. They're an excellent lab, I can't see them making such an error (5 rolls I believe).

As for manual focus, I am not sure. I've tried her with my hi-matic in the past and she's got it in focus (just tried on a couple of shots) BUT not terribly comfortable with it. It's not a preference of hers, but then if the other choice is 'hoping' the AF system will work, perhaps her opinion might differ. That, again, is a step up in size. As well, such a camera would need to have a program mode as although she grasps the idea of shutter and aperture, she wouldn't know how to adjust in any given situation... which is part of the fun, of course, great quality, tiny camera that does all the thinking and produces stunning colours and just a really "admirable" look to them.

Update: Photos are not recoverable. The focus error is in camera, not in scanning/printing.

There are a handful of closeups that are usable, but not many. Oh well, we need to move on.

What I'm still not sure about is HOW this happened. Good, reliable camera that has had many rolls through. Looking at the photos, it's almost like it's stuck at the minimum focusing distance on all of them. Now, the dials on the minilux are nice and firm, so it's not really possible to accidentally switch. So we might be leading towards user error... which is still odd as, like I say, she's familiar with it & has had it a while. Looking at the last roll there are 3 photos that I took that are perfectly in focus and I specifically remember putting this in manual focus / infinity. Checking over the camera, it appears / sounds like both the AF and MF are working correctly. So the only option is for me to put a test roll through and examine... it might be as simple as confirming it works and then giving her a lesson on what NOT to do...

carstenw wrote:
That would mean taking the same shot twice... I doubt that many people would want to work like that. I think that film is viable, but the camera must be checked before travelling, and digital should be used where the results are very important, if possible.
I was thinking more along the lines of alternating between the cameras so that some shots are recorded via the 2nd camera when you really want the subject recorded.